Thankful for a tank full of gas...

This week's Weekly Photo Challenge at The Daily post at wordpress.com is "Thankful"

With the price of gas nowadays, I am glad I can have a tank full of gas. That means freedom to get away, to go and explore…

Now that my tank is full, I have a general location in mind that might be good to photograph. To add to the excitement, I plan to get lost at least once, which is a great way of making discoveries. When I prepare my camera equipment for my little excursions, I usually pack light: one camera, and a lens or two. I don't believe in weighing myself down, so an all-in-one zoom does the trick for me, like my trusty 18-200mm, which covers all the focal lengths I might need. Mobility is paramount, so when I go exploring, I usually bring my smaller DSLR. I prefer to be as inconspicuous as possible, since some of the most exciting areas to photograph might not be the ones I feel comfortable walking around in while carrying an expensive camera.

To round off my kit, I bring a few filters, plenty of extra memory and very important, extra batteries. I usually skip the tripod because it's a pain to carry and it slows me down. Besides, I aesthetically prefer softer images with lots of blurs and motion. Technical notes: The image above was shot at 1/15th of a second. My plan was to have more sharpness on the hand and steering wheel, while having the outside blurred. However I discovered that taking photos with one hand while travelling at 50mph is not easy. You need to have objects close to the outside of the car, in this case the trees, in order to get some nice streaking blurs. My image is not perfect but the light and the overall feel is nice enough.

Off I go to explore. I am very thankful to have the time and the freedom to get lost with my camera.

Disclaimer: Photographing while driving is dangerous and should only be performed by trained professionals.